"TONY Blair is planning to destroy 25pc of British farms in order to be more 'competitive'. But having fewer, bigger farms will be bad for rural communities, bad for the environment and less productive of top quality food.

"The smaller farms, which Tony Blair wants rid of, are more likely to be organic, are generally more environmentally benign, and sustain more jobs per acre than the huge agribusiness enterprises."

Those are the views of Green peer and agriculture spokesperson Lord Beaumont of Whitley who will join trade expert and Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas to address a publicly-open meeting at the Green Party's Scarborough conference this evening, at the Spa Complex, Scarborough, 7.45pm.

The meeting will address the Government's response to foot and mouth and its plans for British farming in an ever-more competitive global economy.

Updated: 09:38 Thursday, March 14, 2002